{E} Visual Tests

1. Below is a static image. The more pressure you have in life, the faster the picture "rotates".

2. The lines below are ALL straight lines. The more social involvements/commitments you have, you can see lesser straight lines.
How many straight lines do you see?

3. How many human faces do you see in the picture below?

Evaluation:
0-4 faces: mentally retarded; 5-8: normal person; 9-11: exceptionally emotional; 12-13: schizophrenic


4. At first, what animal do you see? A duck or a rabbit?

Evaluation:
If you're a TRUE MAN, you saw a duck.
If you're a REAL WOMAN, you saw earlier was a rabbit.


5. If the image below seems to be moving, it means you have mood swings.

6. Look at the picture below and it will dictate what you feel at this moment.

Evaluation:
If you saw the side view of a pretty girl, you are feeling happy.
Otherwise, if you saw an ugly witch's face, you seem to be sad.


7. At first look, if you see angels, you are a good person. If devils...you know what you are.

8. Persons with severe near-sightedness could clearly read the message below. If you're a person of good eyesight, kindly squint your eyes, thou shall see it clearly too.
(Note: They are Chinese characters. It works only to those who can read Chinese.)

9. This will test your intelligence. How many human faces are in the picture?

Evaluation:
1-3 faces: poor; 4-6: average; 7-10: above average; 11-15: genius!


10. Can you find a man's face within a minute?

Source: From an undisclosed user of qzone.qq.com.


>> rrj@chn_2012-04-25

{E} My First Research on Philippine Tiong Se Academy: A Summary

Note: Translated from the original Chinese text, written as an assignment for my "Practical Writing in Chinese II" class last 4th March 2012.

My First Research on Philippine Tiong Se Academy: A Summary

Joemar L. Colinares

      Philippine Tiong Se Academy (PTSA) is my country's oldest Chinese school, founded in 1899, has written more than a hundred years of history, and has given great contributions to Chinese education in the Philippines; thus, making the school itself deserving of further researches (in the Chinese education field).

I. Background

      In December 2011, an alumnus of PTSA, Mr. Rolando O. Uy, initiated the move for the application for the installation of a historical marker at the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, requiring for further in-depth research about the school. I, upon learning of it, started to look for sources and articles about PTSA.

II. Gathering of possible helpful sources

      When I went back to the Philippines during this year's winter break, I informed Mrs. Margarita Gutierrez, PTSA school principal, that I will conduct research about the school. She, being supportive of this event, permitted me to borrow two (2) anniversary books: the Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) Golden Jubilee Book (published in 1949) and the Anglo-Chinese School 70th Anniversary Book (published in 1973). Mrs. Gutierrez gave me a copy of the Philippine Tiong Se Academy Centennial Anniversary Book (published in 2002), and lent me her own copy of Philippine Chinese Education Research Center 1995-2004 Annual Report.

      Before leaving for China (last February), I returned the books (except for the Centennial Book) to the principal. I will borrow them again upon returning to the Philippines this July for my second research.

III. Results of the Research

      1. Had an in-depth knowledge of PTSA's glorious past
          During this research. I found out a lot about PTSA. From 1899 to date, the school has had seventeen (17) principals, one of them is the Sino-Japanese War (Second World War) martyr Gan Bun Cho. The school faced many challenges: 1942-45 World War II; school building razed by fire in 1969; the Filipinization of Chinese schools in 1973; increasing problems concerning nearby informal settlers in the 90s; and the city government's effort to commercialize Meisic-Sta. Elena area in 2007.

(above) Martyr Gan Bun Cho,
PTSA's sixth principal
served: 1918-1941

          Also, I learned of PTSA's contributions to Philippine Chinese education: PTSA wrote the first pages of Chinese education in the country; in 1921, the school is the first to use Mandarin as the medium of instruction in Chinese classes; this year, the school has been starting to hold "Chinese Culture" classes, in which a few Chinese schools have this kind of subject, that is to educate the today's generation of Filipino-Chinese of their rich culture.
            Lastly, the school's contribution to the Philippine and Fil-Chi society was uncovered by yours truly. in 1937, during the outbreak of Sino-Japanese War, the school initiated a military training class and had monthly donations to support the needs of the war. Claudio Teehankee, Sr. was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the republic in 1986. Teehankee Sr. is a graduate of ACS Batch 1929 English day class.
      2. Uncovered reasons for school population decline
(Undisclosed, will be revealed if I got the permission from PTSA Administrators)


IV. Loopholes of this research
          The school's library has a copy of the 30th Anniversary book of then Anglo-Chinese School (which is rarely seen in the Philippines and is believed that apart from PTSA's copy, there's no other copy of the said 1929 anniversary book), however, I was not able (or, I'm not that willing) to borrow it. Firstly, I can't understand ancient Chinese way of literature; secondly, I can't understand Chinese calligraphy in semi-cursive (xingshu) and cursive (caoshu) script.
          My Chinese proficiency has limitations, I may not recognize some characters (all of those books I borrowed are in traditional Chinese characters, I'm now used to reading the simplified ones) which can possibly affect my comprehension of several details in every article that I read.
          I haven't gone to several public libraries to further expand my research coverage. It makes this research a bit subjective.


>> rrj@chn_2012-04-17

{E} Philippines' population now at 92.34 million!

The National Statistics Office of the Philippines has recently released the final and official count of the 2010 Census of Population and Housing conducted almost two years ago on May 1, 2010.


It revealed that there are 92,337,852 people in the Philippines, including over 2,000 Filipinos in Philippine embassies, consulates and missions abroad; higher by more than 15 million compared to the 2000 census.


It also made me aware that the annual population growth rate of my country has gone down to 1.90% (based on 2000 and 2010 results), compared to 2.34% based on 1990 and 2000 results.


My hometown Manila as of 2010 has a population of 1,652,171. Still, the most densely populated city all over the world with the density of 42,858 per square kilometer.


As compared to other countries, the Philippines is still on the 12th spot behind Mexico (2010 census: 112,336,538) and before Vietnam (2011 estimate: 87.84 million).


My thoughts:
1. I was double-counted, well, because I was counted in the May 2010 census in the Philippines and I was also counted in the November 1, 2010 Chinese census (Yup! I was counted in!). Statisticians have to exclude me from the China count, so that their calculations for the world's total population will be more accurate! Haha!
2. I'm happy with the decline of the annual population growth. It will be a big help in my country's economy. I just thought of population explosion which has been a worldwide problem and the Philippines somehow has just proved that it is not very keen in "participating" in it.
3. Having a huge population must not be a basis for "competing" with other countries. Statisticians and other people interested in this field like me just do comparisons, and it never encourages any country to exceed other country's population. China, for the fact that it is the most populated country in the world, has never been boastful of having that international recognition.
4. I can't really think of an absolute reason for the decline of annual population growth of the Philippines. But I think education, especially of the teens, has been one of the major factors which made them aware of the probable effects of the fast-growing population.


Sources:
http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2012/pr1227tx.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population


>> rrj@chn_2012-04-10

{E} BLOG ADVISORY (2nd April 2012)

1. This pre-Easter season, my blog will not be having new posts from Maundy Thursday until Black Saturday (5th-7th April 2012).
2. The next day, which is the Easter Sunday (8th April 2012), new graphics for the blog post language classifications will start to appear.

For Type E blog posts:

For Type M blog posts:

For Type P blog posts:

Have a blessed Holy Week everyone! Take care while in vacation!

>> rrj@chn_2012-04-02

{E} My blog's first month

{E}
This blog post is suitable for worldwide English-speaking readers.






A big big thanks for giving my blog a good start!


As of 30th March 2012, my blog has reached at least eight (8) countries around the world, mainly from the United States, the Philippines, Russia and People's Republic of China.


The total month views for my blog last month (1-31 March 2012) is 231, which translates to at least seven (7) views per day. These values are of a good impression, though it did not meet the target of 300 views, for a blog that has been running for more than a month only.


Last month's number of blog posts were only 14. Busy schedule resulting to lack of time is a major factor influencing the frequency of blog posts published here in my blog. Another factor is that some of my posts required detailed and accurate translations from their original Chinese texts (i.e. Pimples are "signs" of several illnesses, Celebrate Valentine's Day.....EVERY MONTH???, Some signs that a guy is in love with a girl) for these posts took days before it could be published on my blog.


As a matter of fact, I deleted already my "FB Primetime" fan page, not only because of very poor reception, but also to refrain from making too many updates in a day, aside from posting on my Facebook timeline alone, thus, leaving more time for my school assignments and for making new blog posts.


This month of April is a month of change, particularly change in posting time because netizens in the Philippines, which is the primary audience of my blog, have been adjusting or even prolonging their time on the net due to summer vacation.


In fact, the peak of Facebook primetime (FBPT) has been between 10:30PM to 11:30PM Philippine Time as of last week of March. Average FBPT is between 9:00PM to 10:00PM. This means that my blog has to adjust its posting time, especially when most netizens are glued to their computer screens during FBPT.


Hope that everyone is enjoying reading my blogs. I'm open to suggestions and comments. My profiles are being displayed as links on my blog. Feel free to contact me.


Thanks to all of you again for patronizing my blog!


>> rrj@chn_2012-04-01